Friday Finishes

Yesterday I cut out a Divided Basket pattern by Noodlehead available for purchase here: Divided Basket Pattern. No problem, I thought. I should be able to make this pattern, right? Today I finished a project for my dad and began to work on this basket. From there things went straight downhill! After becoming totally frustrated I texted my friend Mary (Fairly Merry) to tell her I was going out of my mind! She texted me back to say she'd be right over. I have to tell you, it turned my day around!

I hope all of you have one friend that is there for you like this! I had the pattern pieces all cut out wrong. I missed the part about connecting pattern pieces so nothing was right. It would have taken me hours, maybe days to figure out what I did wrong without Mary's generous and timely help! Instead, look what I made with her help in about an hour or so! I only lacked stitching around the very top when she left which took me about 10 minutes to complete. I may make a few of these in the next few weeks now that I know how easily they go together. Who is this one for? That's a secret...maybe it's you!

Before I started on the divided basket above, I finished the last piece of my dad's quilt I've been working on for several years...close to 5 really! The bear in the tree is the very last of nine 12" X 12" quilts from McKenna Ryan's Out and About pattern. The first piece I gave Dad for his 85th birthday. In April he'll be 90. I want to get the last piece to him before that so he actually has some time to enjoy the whole thing! It looks much better in person. I couldn't get the color quite right in the photo.The bear will be on the right of the picture at the bottom of this blog. The eagle will be in the top center spot.

This was number eight. I sent this to dad for Christmas last year but it ended up coming back to me. It's a long story...suffice it to say, he'll get the last two pieces together.

Below is what the other seven pieces look like on Dad's wall. He's going to need to move a clock or move the whole grouping. We placed them where he wanted at the time. I know it will look awesome finally complete!

I'll leave you with Mary's soothing words...stay calm and quilt on!

What Have I Been Up To? And an Update on the Monkey Queen

I know it's been a while again. I have not done a ton sewing or quilting in the past few weeks. The weather was nice so my husband and I have walked and walked and walked. Then it grew nasty and with the front came migraines...lots of them in one week and I really didn't care about much. Now it's nicer but cooling down and I feel like I can function again. We'll keep walking as long as the weather holds out because it can't last much longer. But I must get in as much sewing as I can. Christmas and challenge obligations are looming!

In the meantime, our Virginia Beach Modern Quilt Guild has had to change the date they meet to the third Saturday of the month. That's excellent news for me because I am off that Saturday. Yay! I had to go late this week due to a prior appointment before I knew they changed. I have already re-arranged next month's appointments so they will not conflict with this meeting. I will give up most things for a guild meeting but my massage and hair appointments are not among them.

I spent part of Saturday and a couple short sessions before that trying to finish the last piece to my Dad's quilt by McKenna Ryan called Out and About. It's done in 12" squares which are then stretched on canvas and hung in a grouping.Here's a sneak peek at at some of the detail on this piece. More later. I'll post a pictures of this whole piece and the other 8 when it's done providing I can find photos of all the pieces! I think I have pictures of the first 7 pieces hung on his wall. My Dad will be 90 in April. This was a fabulous way to make him something for Birthdays and Christmas that lasted a while. There isn't much he needs and he doesn't have a lot of wall space left for displaying our crafts.

Yesterday I made two pillowcases. I have two more to make for our bed which may be trickier getting the right size. I have a foam neck-type pillow while my hubby uses a super sized King pillow. One of the pillowcases I made yesterday I can't show because it's for our Christmas Charity with the Quiltworkers a.k.a. Sluts. More about that at a later date. We surprise each other with what me make for this charity at out Christmas Social so I cannot reveal mine yet. 

The pillowcase above is going to my sweet grand niece, Alyssa, the Monkey Queen, who is fighting cancer courageously and happens to be only 11 years old. I made her a quick flannel quilt when I found out to help her get through the chemo and all the other nasty procedures she must endure. You can find pictures in previous posts. I wasn't totally crazy about the fabric but it's all I could find in a pinch. Since then I found this adorable monkey print that was not flannel but I had to get it. I decided a nice pillow case would be just the thing for this fabric.

This method is the same one I use for the charity pillowcases we make each year. There are tons of tutorials out there. I use this one because I seem to find it the easiest and it's quite clear. I have a written pattern someone gave me which uses slightly different sizing but I usually change that to suit me anyway. The tutorial I usually use is Making a Sausage Pillowcase by Judy Woodmansee. There are many others out there but this one always works for me.It has french seams inside so there are no raw edges anywhere. I tend to make two changes besides adjusting sizes. I like to top stitch the cuff just above the flange for a nicer more finished look and I find it works better to take a slightly larger second seam around the side and bottom of the quilt or some of the inside threads tend to stick out. Here's a closer photo of the detail of the cuff, flange and the cute monkey fabric.